![]() ![]() Attacking a specific type of monsters (like Dragons) would increase damage against this type, but would decrease damage against another type. On top of that, weapons had a class system.Similarly to Demon's Souls, enemies had resistance and weakness to a specific type of weapon. Weapons had a type: Piercing, Edged, and Blunt.Weapons in Vagrant Story were your party members, you simply could not ace through the game with a single weapon. Not only that, its crafting was incredibly complex. In comparison, Vagrant Story had no level-up, you gained stats randomly by beating up bosses or receiving stat-increase items. Miyazaki's game was still somewhat conventional in that you could fall back on its level-up system to increase stats, and its upgrade path for weapons was simple. In fact, I'd even say it was more challenging to me as a game than Demon's Souls was for different reasons. In regards to difficulty, Vagrant Story was *the* hardcore RPG of Squaresoft with insane production values. On top of being one of, if not the most beautiful game on the PS1, it delivered on sound design and art direction. Matsuno had told him that he wanted the music to be more "X-Files" than "Indiana Jones" and it inspired him to rethink the way he made music entirely. Hitoshi Sakimoto knocked it out of the park in delivering a dark atmosphere. This is the music when you reach the first mine: The silence plays a big role in Vagrant Story, because it knows when to step back and craft a mood. That's mighty impressive and you will realize this when you reach the town and hear sounds of leaves rustling and water streaming down. By the way, the sound design used 0 samples, all of it was done by the SFX artist doing it by manipulating waveforms. There is no music in these first areas, just wails of the dead and of various animals roaming. You first had to make your way through an oppressive catacomb and cathedral before even reaching the town, and all of it is carried through sound design. In terms of sheer atmosphere, I also have to talk about the sound design. It is very obviously western-inspired while keeping a Japanese flair that was very fascinating. It has an open-ended design where you could explore the entire place and teleport around to open previously locked areas. It is much more quaint and less grandiose than Demon's Souls, but the atmosphere in it is heavenly. Vagrant Story happens in the town of LeĆ Monde, which is based off the french town of Saint-Emilion. Vagrant Story shone through its in-depth battle system, its fantastic atmosphere and music, but also differs by offering a real story-driven game that was extremely good, probably the best of the entire PS1 generation. ![]() And I think, with the success of FROM's games, maybe it is time to give it another shot? Not saying it is inspired at all, but I think Yasumi Matsuno created a similar type of game 20 years ago that was extremely polished and with incredible production values. Still, while I know it's inspired by FROM's legacy with King's Field and Shadow Tower (I played those), it reminded me a lot of Vagrant Story. I am really excited to jump into Dark Souls, which I think is more open ended (which I think is more accurate to what Vagrant Story is about, but I want to talk about it now). The linear but still somewhat open nature meant that you explored different levels and are able to make progress constantly even when you fail. The way it used its environment to craft a strong atmosphere with abstract storytelling where you progressively piece things together as you progress is incredible. I really enjoyed it and had a ton of fun with it. ![]() I finished Demon's Souls (on PS3 lol) and it was awesome.
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